Manhattan Prep GMAT Blog

The 3rd Annual Manhattan GMAT Instructor Convocation took place this past weekend. Dozens of Instructors came from across the country (and Canada) to mingle and share best practices with some of the brightest teaching minds anywhere.

The topic of the afternoon was how to deal with students whose issues are not primarily content-related (i.e. understanding GMAT-tested concepts), but rather issues surrounding the test-taking experience (e.g. stress management). Some very interesting themes came out of the Convocation – we’re going to be compiling some of these ideas to help our Instructors coach students moving forward. Some good suggestions came up for us incorporate into our upcoming books. We’re also looking at putting together a series of essays that may be helpful directly to students as well. An essay will likely appear in this space.

The Convocation was then followed by a massive Company dinner and a party at the CEO’s apartment, so it wasn’t all work and no play. Perhaps there will be more pictures to come . . . 🙂

We’re lucky here at Manhattan GMAT to be part of a thriving community of people who are headed toward business school – our website gets tens of thousands of visits each month. So we decided to try and get some insight as to what our students were thinking in terms of their professional aspirations and motivations for applying to MBA programs.

We conducted a survey, which students responded to in order to procrastinate, contribute to collective human knowledge, or win the amazon.com gift certificate we gave away to one lucky winner (Congrats to you!). After we compiled hundreds of responses, we put together a press release with the results. Some of the findings were a bit surprising, in that most of our respondents were secure in their jobs and not, for example, pursuing an MBA because of some job dislocation. Others were in keeping with you what you read in the press (fewer aspiring bankers and consultants than in years past). We’ll let you read for yourself if you’re curious.

Manhattan GMAT is proud to host the 1st day of the 2009 AIGAC Conference (the Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants) on June 17th. Admissions officers from Haas (Berkeley), Tuck (Dartmouth), Yale, Michigan, and Darden (Virginia) will all be participating, with presentations from officers from NYU and Columbia during the conference as well.

Though we’re obviously a test prep company, we know that the larger admissions process is of acute interest to many of our students. Hopefully we’ll pick up a few tidbits to pass along.

Application season is starting to heat up again! For those of you just getting started, here’s an overview of “what’s what” with the GMAT.

What Is The GMAT?

The Graduate Management Admissions Test is a standardized test that many English-speaking business schools require applicants to take. The test is called a CAT, or Computer Adaptive Test, both because it is administered on a computer and because the test actually changes based upon how we answer the questions. The computer chooses what test questions to give us based upon our performance up until that point in the test. In a sense, we all take a different test, because the specific mix of questions any one person sees is based on that person’s performance during the test.

To register for the test or learn more information straight from the testwriters, go to www.mba.com.

The front page of today’s New York Times included a feature article about TEP, the innovative charter school founded by Zeke Vanderhoek. Zeke also founded Manhattan GMAT and served as CEO until the end of 2006.

Believe it or not, this is Zeke and TEP’s 2nd time on the front page of the Times. If you missed it, here’s a link to the 1st article.

TEP is doing to public education what Manhattan GMAT has done to test prep – demonstrating that if you pay more and select the best, the results speak for themselves. Congratulations to Zeke and TEP! If this article is any indication, the world is watching!

GMAC has released a bit more information about their research process for the Next Generation GMAT, slated to launch in 2013. (See this story on GMAC’s web site.) Here’s the nutshell:

GMAC is currently researching what skills the Next Generation GMAT will test. An advisory group made up of representatives from 9 major business schools in the US and Europe has been meeting to review the results of several studies conducted by GMAC and to debate the skills that the GMAT should test. (See this page for a summary of the advisory group’s activities.)

GMAC has not yet finalized what the pool of skills will be, nor has it determined the format of the questions or even the scoring scale that will be used. The Next Generation GMAT may even be given in additional languages besides English! (See the FAQ for more.) All we know for now is that the new test is expected to launch in 2013.

As we said when this info first came to light, the Next Generation GMAT is so far in the future that nobody needs to worry about it right now (except, of course, for all of us here at ManhattanGMAT!). If you are curious, though, check out the above links for the word straight from GMAC’s lips.

Another fantastic account from a student who went from a 570 to a 720. Hats off to Dan Patinkin for his tremendous work!

I am so proud of myself, but more just relieved – I knew I was capable but after struggling for 2 years, I was beginning to doubt myself.

I don’t know if you are familiar with my story, but I have ADHD and severe test anxiety. I had started studying for the GMAT in September of 2007 and had been through two different courses, all of the MBA guide books and 2 poorly attempted official tests before I got to Dan. I had called Manhattan GMAT as a last resort – mainly because my parents were convinced I had to try “everything” before I gave up. I expected nothing because no matter how much I had known in the past – my test score never showed it.

I want you to know how unbelievable Dan was in helping me execute what had been stuck inside my head for 2 whole years. The Manhattan Gmat tests and questions adequately prepared me and I have never had a more positive experience with a tutoring company or with any tutor period – and I am speaking from 15 years of tutors. When I called your New York office – everyone was receptive and listened to my situation and was able to actually help me.

I cannot thank you enough for your companies services and how much they helped me reach my full potential. It is going to change my life.

We get good news from students quite often, but this e-mail today reminded us of how great it is to do what we do here at Manhattan GMAT. Kudos to Jonathan Schneider, Kate McKeon, and Horacio Quiroga for their tremendous work in contributing to yet another success story!

Hi all.

It’s with a lot of emotion that I write this email to you all -because each of you were instrumental in me achieving a fair GMAT score. Kate your teaching was always on point, so much so that I watched the replays of class long after class was over. Jonathan your teaching style in addition to your extra help throughout class is greatly appreciated, and I’m in gratitude to your constant interaction with me up to the hours before my exam. Horacio you were always so willing to help out in any way you could, including occasionally going beyond our scheduled time, and sending me much needed review documents.

As Jonathan said a few weeks ago, my goal is to “fire on all cannons.”

With that said:

Quantitative: 43

Verbal: 44

Score: 710 (92nd percentile)

Bear in mind my absolute highest combination of scores seen in the last five CATs were Q42 and V37. My first official GMAT taken in February was a 590. My goal on Saturday was a 650, yet I was hoping to break 630 on that day. With your help guys, I’ve blown away even the wackiest of expectations, with a 120 point increase and a 710 score.

Thanks to Manhattan GMAT, I now have crossed the academic bridge to getting into business school, and can at the minimum be taken seriously by any school in the country. I’m quite emotional about the whole thing – and want you all to know that you and your team were instrumental in me achieving my goals.

Sincerely – thank you. The direction of the rest of my life is now a bit different thanks to your support and teaching. Feel free to use me as a reference at any point. And feel free to forward this email to any of your supervisors, bosses, direct reports, proteges, references, or whomever. Thanks again.

As application season just starts to get underway, Manhattan GMAT is proud to host mbaMission events in its New York, Chicago, and Silicon Valley centers this Thursday, May 14th.

This is your chance to talk to an expert and get your application off on the right foot. Admissions consultants from mbaMission (each with an MBA from Harvard or Chicago) will be answering such questions as:

* “What do B-Schools want to see from me?”
* “What can I do to improve my chances of getting in?”
* “What sort of GMAT score should I be aiming for?”

Each session will also include a Q & A to make sure you get your questions answered.